Cautious and centrist message promoted by the Democrat // The Republican fits the definition of a fascist, experts say
▲ Trump has threatened mass deportations of undocumented immigrants; In the image above, an offering to migrants who died in their attempt to reach the United States.Photo Afp
David Brooks and Jim Cason
Correspondents
La Jornada Newspaper
Sunday, November 3, 2024, p. 18
New York and Washington. In intense debates in forums, the streets, universities, in liberal and progressive groups, in the editorial boards, in the analysis centers about the implications of this election as we almost reach the culmination of this aberrant contest, everyone – from right to left – agree on one thing: it doesn’t matter who wins.
On the one hand, for the entire range of opponents of the Republican candidate (including several of his coreligionists, from the Cheney and Bush families to the Terminator Arnold Schwarzenegger) Donald Trump’s neo-fascist project makes its agenda clear – it is explicit. Although some analysts argue that much of the magnate’s speech is rhetoric without substance, the evidence shows otherwise.
hard line
Trump has proposed throughout his campaign, among other things: mass deportations of migrants through the National Guard and something like creating concentration camps to detain them; assures that he will pursue his political opponents through the Department of Justice, and has promised that he will deploy military forces against American citizens who are part of what he calls the internal enemy.
On his list of actions, if he reaches the White House, is to punish states with Democratic governments in the management of natural disasters (which he did do when he was president). He has stated that he will bomb Iran and use military force against the cartels in Mexico; will continue with the annulment of abortion rights and civil liberties, as well as promote protectionist measures with serious consequences for the country’s trading partners. In an editorial this week on these proposals and others, The New York Times warns: believe him.
On the other hand, the Democrats’ offer is more of the same as the last four years, but now with someone younger than President Joe Biden – who was forced to give up the candidacy under pressure from the leadership of his party and of the polls–, who proclaims himself as leader of a new generation (despite his 60 years of age). Although almost all of Trump’s opponents applauded the change of rider in the middle of this election in the face of the increasing probability that Biden would be defeated by Trump, it has not been enough to change the electoral dynamics to the degree they desired.
It is debated whether this is in part due to the cautious and centrist message of the Democratic candidate Kamala Harris, especially on some issues for specific sectors of the electorate, and in particular the key states that will determine the final result, where she has decided to turn to the right: on the issue of border control and migratory flow; the issue of unconditional support for Israel in the genocide in Gaza and on the environmental issue. For a large Latino sector, and for young people, these issues are decisive, and the commitment not to address them in any other way could end up being a factor in a defeat. You see, but there are many who claim that they cannot vote for someone who is complicit in a genocide.
This Saturday, the only Palestinian-American federal representative, Michigan Democrat Rashida Tlaib, refused to endorse her vote on Harris for the handling of the war in Gaza.
At the same time, it is still surprising to the anti-Trump that, faced with a Republican candidate who is convicted of business fraud and for hiding payments to silence a porn star, and who faces dozens of federal and state criminal charges for attempting to subvert the last election and for illicit handling of secret official documents, among other things, three days before the elections, this race remains in a technical tie.
In fact, there is something curious about what Trump has managed to project himself as. the insurgent and his campaign not as another candidacy of the Republican Party, but as the head of a great popular movement, something that he projects in all his events. and the insurgency it’s against him status quo in Washington now represented by Harris and her boss Biden (although the president has been almost invisible in the last three months), and with this he has managed to maintain spectacular popular support from a population that, according to polls, does not trust the The country’s democratic institutions, including the political leadership and a large part, such as industrial workers in key states and farmers, feel betrayed by the government and the democrats who claim to represent them.
▲ Palestinian-American Democratic Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, who said she will not support Harris over her handling of the war in Gaza.Photo Afp
For some experts on right-wing nationalist movements, Trump increasingly fits the classic description of fascism.
Given this, the most effective argument against the Republican is not necessarily to promote a pro-Harris vote, but rather a massive anti-Trump vote. That is the message of a whole chorus of liberal and progressive political leaders and activists. Senator Bernie Sanders – still the most popular elected politician among young voters – and Representative Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez have held support events for Harris in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, with Sanders spreading messages to progressive and young sectors that could define the result if they participate. Underscoring that they also have differences with Harris on migration, complicity in the war against the Palestinians and on environmental issues, they affirm, as Sanders repeats at each event he Trump and his right-wing friends are worse.
A disaster for the country
Sanders insists that the voting decision cannot be reduced to a single issue, and emphasizes that in areas such as women’s rights, climate change and racism, Trump would be a disaster for the country. has to be defeated.
Yesterday in Pennsylvania, Sanders led an event in support of the vice president, but whose message was not focused on her, but rather as an invitation to the movement to expand workers’ rights and confront Trump’s plans to dismantle the power of wage earners in the country. It’s time to build an economy that works for everyone.
This type of message about the issues, not necessarily about the candidate, is also projected by leaders in favor of women’s rights, the defense of civil liberties and migrants, as well as groups in favor of gun control. fire, of the constitutional guarantees for the gay community, as well as by experts in foreign relations and military affairs (it is worth remembering that former generals who worked with Trump, including the then chief of staff and the chief of the General Staff, have denounced him as irresponsible, dangerous and authoritarian) and environmentalists, among others.
That speech has been repeated, with greater credibility than that of politicians, by stars of culture and sports, or representatives of social movements, some of whom have accompanied the Democratic candidate, others participating as part of the resistance against Trump. , among them Bruce Springsteen, Beyonce, George Clooney, Jennifer Lopez, Mark Ruffalo, Don Cheadle, Stephen Curry, Stevie Wonder, Los Tigres del Norte, the president of the automotive union Shawn Fain, the leader of the flight attendants union Sara Nelson and unions of the teachers, among others – some of them progressive critics of the current government, but given the threat of Trump’s arrival in the Oval Office, it is necessary to vote for the opponent of this right-wing project.
Among the great mosaic of conscious, liberal and progressive voices, there are disagreements about almost everything except one: it does not matter – inside and outside the country – who wins in these elections.